Teens Meet Outreach

I didn’t intend to write any more article until the new year. However, while reminiscing on the few hours left in 2018, I decided to share this with you.

I started this year with a desire; it was beyond just a wish but a prayer point I prayed in church, alone, in a different gathering of believers. I just wanted God to address the issue. Earlier this year, in June, I had the chance to solve the problem but I made a mistake and it turned out that I could not get my wish or desire any longer.

The mistake was not a great deal at such, because I tried to do something that I felt was more important than my desire. I chose my family over my wish. When the deed was done, my dad had to refund a huge amount of money and somehow, I had every right to hate my mum for allowing me to make such a mistake. She could have stopped me and made me understand, but she didn’t.

While I am here thinking of my plans for 2019, I am setting realistic goals on how I intend to achieve my desire next year against all odds. I am not proud to tell people around me that I chose the wrong option when I had the opportunity to get my desire fulfilled. A part of me wants to blame my mum for allowing that to happen this year, while the other part tells me that I am stupid and foolish to have made that kind of decision.

Whenever this happens, I simply let go of the thought. The truth is, the deed has been done, it will be unwise to dwell in the past which will make me hate my mum, become lazy and frustrated about 2019 when I ought to forget about all that has happened and get moving. Monday is the last day of the year and I ought to write on goal setting, but you can’t set an appropriate goal if you are still dwelling on the mistakes you made in this year.

It is just a few hours into the new year, and you can still make it count. All you need to do is make a list of the goals you could not achieve in this year, the mistakes you made and how you should have been better. After doing this, write on a new page how you intend to handle them in the new year.

Below are some vital areas of your life that you need to let go and how to work on them.

1. Inconsistency with God

This is a long topic to address. Rather than focusing on days you didn’t pray at night, days you should have stood in the gap for a friend, days you should have evangelized or stood as an ambassador for Christ, you need to focus on the fact that God’s love is great, so merciful to forgive and forget. Your inconsistency could also mean addiction but the truth is that you can overcome. You have prayed, gone for counselling and it looks like God would not forgive you. The truth is, fear and doubt on God’s power through forgiveness towards us is a weapon used by the devil to deceive us.

2. Forgiveness of Self

Have you ever done something so bad that despite everything your family and the Holy Spirit tells you, you still don’t feel like forgiving yourself? I counselled a teenage girl this year who was involved in sexual immorality and she told me she couldn’t forgive herself. It can be tough, it can look shameful and disappointing, but you need to forgive yourself.

3. Forgiveness Towards Others

Few hours before I started writing this, I had an argument with a colleague at work, and after the argument, I prayed that God helps me to love her no matter what happens. I am not here to tell you who is guilty or not guilty, but rather to tell you to learn to forgive. I don’t know why I am led to write this, perhaps it is because a lot of us find it hard to forgive our parents.

{Related: Forgiving Yourself and Others}

One thing I have realized about our parents is that they have trained us or they are training us with the best knowledge they got while growing up. We need to learn from them so we become better parents than they are.

4. Failures

The fact that you failed your exams this year does not mean you should drown in depression. I have failed before, it is not something to boast about but it is something that is likely to happen to us at any point in life. Failure is relative. A father can say he has failed if his 16-year-old gets pregnant, while a student in final year could say he has failed if he has 3 carryovers. Let go of your failures: stop blaming others for your failures. I have learnt to stop blaming people but should rather see what I should have done better.

5. Wrong Relationships

Do you know that not all relationships are good for you? I had to leave some people I once called my friends this year because I realized that they would never lead me to where God has destined for me.

Did you break up with your boyfriend/girlfriend this year and you feel your world is coming to an end? You should move on and learn to focus on becoming a better you.

{Related: How to Get Over a Breakup}

I hope this will be of help as we enjoy the last phase of this year.

Happy New Year in Advance! 

What are you letting go of in 2018? Do share in the comments below and don’t forget to subscribe to this blog to not miss a post.